There is one cable news network that has made its proclamations of hyper-patriotism a part of its brand since the day it was founded. Fox News incorporates American flag logos into virtually every graphic that appears on the screen. And its hosts and guests relentlessly sermonize on the divine infallibility of the nation under almost any circumstances.

The exceptions to this rule are those that involve their Dear Leader, Donald Trump. Whenever there is some controversy regarding the investigations into his collusion with Russia, financial corruption, or sexual misconduct, Fox News immediately changes course to lambaste the government institutions charged with keeping the nation safe and enforcing the law. Patriotism goes out the window whenever the FBI or other intelligence agencies begin to close in on Trump’s criminality.

A foreboding example of this emerged this weekend as reports that the FBI employed informants to ascertain whether Trump’s campaign was working with Russian operatives to help him win the election. Trump took to Twitter to post a frantic series of posts denouncing these investigations and misrepresenting the FBI’s conduct. Trump characterized the Bureau as “implanting” spies in his campaign for political purposes. In reality, they were seeking information about possible crimes using undercover sources, which is in keeping with their mission to protect the public, including Trump. But now the obviously panicked President is threatening his own Justice Department with ludicrous demands:

I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018

There is, of course, no evidence that any political shenanigans were being undertaken by the FBI or the Obama administration. But Trump’s interest in interfering with undercover investigations poses a serious problem for law enforcement. He and his sycophants in the right-wing press have been calling for the FBI informant’s identity to be revealed. However, that information would likely lead to security risks for both the informant and any other operation he might have been involved with. People’s lives may literally be at risk.

So naturally Fox News went ahead and reported the informant’s identity. Never mind the damage it does to ongoing inquiries or human lives. According to an article by Fox News, the Daily Caller (a website founded by Tucker Carlson who currently hosts a primetime show on Fox) was first to identify the informant. That news was subsequently regurgitated by the New York Post, which is owned by the same parent company as Fox News. So at least three members of the Fox family have been actively outing an undercover FBI asset.

The original stories about this informant were published by the New York Times and the Washington Post. Neither one disclosed his identity. But both were apparently correct despite Trump’s tedious accusations of them being “fake” news. However, Fox had no problem with endangering Americans and American interests. What’s ironic, though, is that this reckless brand of pseudo-journalism didn’t even support their premise that this was all a clandestine plot to destroy Trump. Their own article notes that the informant was not a deep state Obama spy, but had previously worked for the administrations of Nixon, Ford and Reagan.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

In conclusion, what we have here is an attempt by Fox News to assist Trump in defaming the FBI in order to help a criminally suspect president. And their attempt fails due to the partisan affiliation of the informant who, it turns out, is a staunch Republican. But it succeeds in endangering American lives and ongoing investigations to protect the country in matters that may be unrelated to Trump. So we should all recognize Fox News for their stalwart patriotism that they demonstrate by deliberately hurting the country and its citizens.